The modern auto dealer business is a difficult craft. It is not enough just to sell a car to a person, you need to provide him with the proper level of service and maintenance for years to come. And if we are talking about a large dealer center with thousands of customers, then without digital tools this task cannot be done.
The leading car dealer center of Ukraine, the Arma Motors company, addressed us with service problems. Motorists know her as an official dealer of Renault, Volvo and Mitsubishi. For 23 years on the market, the company has gained a solid reputation and continues to strengthen it. Before the war, the center sold about 200 brand new cars every month.
Maintenance of vehicles on such a scale becomes a very resource-intensive task. About a hundred Renault owners and up to thirty Volvo owners visit the company's service centers every day. Even the routine processing of applications began to eat up an exorbitant amount of time and resources, and yet the business continued to grow. The need to give customers a convenient platform for car service management, preferably from a phone, has become obvious.
The essence of the project
In December 2020, the guys from Arma Motors turned to us with their ideas for creating a mobile application, and we gladly responded. They wanted to create a “service center in a smartphone” that automates communication with customers, relieves company managers, and gives users new service options.
We defined our goal as follows: to create a cross-platform mobile application for a car service, with a modern design and integration into the company's digital ecosystem.
This goal included the solution of a number of tasks:
- develop UX / UI design;
- create a functional application and an admin panel for it;
- ensure the integration of the application with the 1C service.
The project quickly passed the initial approval and the zero sprint, already in February 2021, work on the MyService car service application began to boil.
How technologies were chosen
The client needed a universal solution for iOS and Android at a reasonable price, so we chose the Flutter cross-platform framework for development. Firebase was used for notifications in the app.
The admin panel of the application is implemented as a SPA. The backend used php and GraphQL, which ensured proper performance and coding convenience.
The final technology stack looked like this:
- Laravel
- PHP8
- MySQL 8.0
- GraphQl
- React.js
- Apollo
- Flutter
How was the reporting done?
We worked according to the usual T&M model - we divided all tasks into 10 sprints of 2-4 weeks each, formed a team. Reporting for each sprint was very detailed - we kept a document with reports, in which we carefully recorded the results of the work done and, if necessary, presented them.
From the client's side, the communication was at its best - the managers of Arma Motors are very responsive and professional. We could always get feedback or clarification on the intricacies of the business from them. Largely due to this coherence, the team managed to avoid typical mistakes and complete all tasks without delay.
Development difficulties
The application was created with an eye to integration with the 1C service used by the company. Already at the earliest stages, third-party specialists were involved in the work - they had a database and well understood the business processes of Arma Motors.
But when developing the functionality on the 1C side, significant difficulties arose, the integration logic had to be revised. In fact, this meant delaying the entire project and delaying the release. For the client, this situation was very painful.
Our team decided to make a "knight's move" for the client - to implement part of the functionality tied to 1C, directly through the application's administration panel. This meant a sharp change in the approved plan and promised several sleepless nights for programmers, but it allowed them to quickly upload the product to the AppStore and PlayMarket.
(OPINION) “And we did it! This has been the hardest month ever. It was necessary to test everything, make a release, as well as regression testing in the shortest possible time. There were some nuances - the application has two languages, there was a bug with switching (not all translations worked). We made a hot fix, updated the assembly and everything was fine”, - Vlada Belaya, project manager at WEZOM.
On release, the application also experienced some problems with SMS messaging, but in general the task was completed. The platform has gone into release, it looks good and works well.
What have we achieved
The MyService app gives car enthusiasts a convenient personal account with a wide range of options - from applying for diagnostics to buying insurance and calculating a loan for a new car. On the other hand, the company's employees received very valuable opportunities for client management and financial data analytics. And all this - in a modern and beautiful design.
The user can add one or more cars to his profile. Corporate clients can add a whole fleet. It is not necessary to enter data on the car manually - you can scan the VIN code on the body, and the system will automatically pull up the information.
In the application, you can easily and easily arrange a full range of services - insurance, car service, body repair, selection and ordering of auto parts. Anything from buying a new car.
Here are just some of the key features of MyService:
- login without a password - implemented authorization by TouchID and FaceID;
Order a new car directly from your phone. The user can make a purchase of a car in MyService and track the status - of the application - literally from production to delivery to Ukraine;
- a financial calculator that allows you to calculate the cost of any services directly in the application, plan payments on a loan to buy a car;
- discounts and promotions. The personal profile of the client opens up wide opportunities for the loyalty program. Each client receives individual discounts for the service, learns about the company's promotions in a timely manner.
- the ability to leave applications for the service in two clicks. If a user needs a service, he selects a free time slot in the application in a convenient service center, as well as the preferred method of contacting managers. Everything else is a matter of technique.
- archive for the user. The application stores the entire history of service requests, including the actual cost of the work performed.
Admin panel features
We aimed to give company managers the tools to save time on routine and get much more data on working with clients. The admin panel provides a number of options:
- visual statistics on sales and applications for the reporting periods - the data is drawn up in graphs that are not ashamed to be shown in presentations;
- convenient database of users, they can be filtered by various categories. The database on cars is also implemented separately;
- no less convenient base for employees - with contact details and application processing indicators.
- the ability to centrally manage promotions for customers and a loyalty program. This greatly simplifies the address service on which the auto dealer business is based.
Development results
The application for Arma Motors looks very simple and allows the user to get any car service in three clicks on a smartphone. But behind this simplicity lies layered logic, digitized business processes, and federated databases. Our team has something to be proud of - it implemented all the basic functionality of the platform on the backend side, and it did it very quickly and efficiently.
Now MyService is being integrated with the accounting service required by the client, but the capabilities of the admin panel will remain and serve as a good backup for the company for all occasions. The WEZOM team is also working on new functionality. In the future, through the application it will be possible not only to order the purchase of a car, but also to pay for it.
The application was released in the stores in November last year and collected a lot of positive feedback, although all the plans of Arma Motors were turned over by the war. Today, the company operates as a critical infrastructure facility, with technicians repairing and servicing machines by appointment. Including - by recording through the application. Since April 1, the center has even resumed selling cars remotely.
We are convinced that every working business is important for Ukraine today. After all, jobs and tax revenues are more important than ever for a warring country. And we are ready to contribute to the development of any business, giving teams new digital opportunities.